Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Kings and Queens
by Orion Weiss
Summary: "Aura. An energy that few knew about and fewer could control. Some say it's Pokemon's true power. Some say it's Arceus' gift. Maybe it's both, maybe it has nothing to do with them, but one thing is certain: When the time comes, God's chosen ones will appear, and with their Auras, they'll fight evil. They're our Kings and Queens... but... what happened to them? Where are them now?"
1. A Fateful Encounter

_**Hello guys!**_

 _ **I'm Orion and this is my first Pokemon fanfic. I love the Mystery Dungeon games so I said "Well, why not write about it?" and here I am :)**_

 _ **I just wanted to say some things here:**_

 _ **1) I'm trying to return to my writing habits. I stopped for about 2 years because of personal problems so bear with me, please. ^w^**_

 _ **2) English is not my first language. If there are errors, please let me know.**_

 _ **3) This story will have pokemons using moves they cannot learn normally and other "special" things like variations of moves, abilities and some "anime" touchs or references... I really hope I can make this fanfic work because it's a personal project I always wanted to write.**_

 _ **4) Enjoy to your heart's content :)**_

* * *

" _We will die, we will die, we will die, we will die!_ "

Elliot screamed those words mentally with each step he took as the light of the moon shone at the forest.

"Faster, Elliot! He is almost catching up with us!" the small dog that ran just a little behind him screamed in a terrified tone as he looked back and saw that figure that had almost twice his size chasing them.

"... and who do you think it's the fault for having a damn dragon on our tails, Cobalt!" Elliot answered while trying to hold on his small backpack. His heart was almost flying out of his chest.

They begun to take random paths. Right, left, left, jump, turn, jump higher... but then, the Riolu stumbled on a rock and rolled through a small hill. He instinctively grabbed the backpack to protect it, and after getting up, begun to run behind the Rockruff, who was now leading their escape.

"If only you had listened to me and had not used Rock Throw on that tree, we would already be home with the berries!"

"I just wanted to help, okay?! How could I know that one berry would fall in the head of this thing that is chasing us now?!"

Elliot wanted to scold the small canine, but that wasn't his priority now. They were dealing with a pokemon from a mystery dungeon. It was easy to know about that. After they apologize, the dragon started to growl and attacked them. No talk at all.

Cobalt was already at his limit. His small body weren't trained enough to support long runs. He was already heavy breathing and he stumbled more than walked. He sweared that if he survived that, he would not skip the endurance training to play anymore. As he ran, he noticed something wet at his paws. At first he thought he wet himself, but then he heard the sound of waves. They were near the beach.

"Elliot... the beach! We can call for help!"

"No time for that... you can't run anymore. We have to attack him." Elliot said and went to the other side.

"But... We never battled before! And I have no moves that can deal a good damage to him!"

"You don't... but I have. That thing is a Zweilous. He is a Dark and Dragon type pokemon. I'm a fighting type pokemon. Leave it to me."

Cobalt cursed his bad luck. That is almost a suicidal plan, but was everything they had.

They rested for half a second when the dragon appeared. Zweilous emmited a roar, expressing all of his fury. At first they thanked Arceus for that Zweilous could not fly, but he had two heads... and that's twice the problem.

Zweilous opened both his mouths and a purple energy begun to concentrate in each. Elliot dashed forward and hit the first face before it could shoot, but the second did it. Cobalt dodged it at the last second, and when the Dragon Pulse hit the ground, it exploded, sending the Rockruff some meters away from where he was.

The Riolu saw that energy and a strange sensation passed thorugh his body. Seeing that move, he knew how to use it. He put his hands together with the palm turned to the dragon. That same energy begun to gather there and got the Zweilous' attention.

"Here! Have a taste of your own move!" he forced his hands forward and the energy went in the dragon's direction. Apparently it was a very strong move because the Zweilous fell on the ground with the explosion. " _Wow... what was that?_ "

With that... he had one more move that could do damage to that dragon!

Elliot ran to where his opponent was and as soon as he got near, his palm begun to glow. He oponened the palm of his hand and forced it against the dragon. The glow disappeared and then, another explosion. The Zweilous screamed in pain as he rolled on the ground. Elliot was confident. He put both palms at the exact position he put before and tried to use the Dragon Pulse again.

"Dragon Pulse!"

...

Nothing. Before he could even wonder why it didn't work, Cobalt grabbed and pulled him to the ground before the Dragon could hit him with a blue beam.

"Don't daydream, Elliot! He almost got you with a Dragon Breath!"

Both of them decided to retreat before planning a new attack. The Dragon stood up, showing no signs of heavy damage.

The Riolu still couldn't understand why the move failed. He used it so well seconds ago... but now wasn't the time to think about it. They still had to defeat that monster.

Cobalt made rocks fly around him and after gathering a good amount, he threw all of them on the dragon, who dodged all. This time, the dragon decided for a physical attack and ran in his direction, headbutting the Rockruff and making him crash on a tree. Cobalt passed out at the same time.

Elliot shivered when the dragon opened it's mouth and droll fell on the ground. He had to think fast. He needed to lure the dragon away from his friend before he became dinner.

That wasn't the proper time, but he understood why his move failed. He had to see a move first. He couldn't think of any other at the time and dashed to headbutt one of the dragon's head. Like he thought, it had much more strenght than a simple headbutt.

As soon as he got his feet on the ground, he saw that big body getting near... and then, it clashed with him. Zweilous used Slam to send him flying.

His body was throw on the sea and he sinked. Elliot's body was heavy but before he could even think in drowing, something grabbed him out of the water. He coughed a few times before realizing that he was in the arms of another Pokemon. He had yellow trident-like thing at his face and was tall. His arms were cold, but then Elliot noticed it was a more like metal wings.

"Need help, little fella?" The penguin-like pokemon asked while looking to the dragon.

"Who... are you?"

"Oh, sorry. You can call me..." He was about to say his name but then he stopped. He remembered something that stopped him from saying it. "... I'll tell you later." He walked in the direction of the dragon, who froze. Did it just trembled in fear? Elliot was surprised that someone could intimidate a monster like that Zweilous like that.

"Ok. you ugly thing. You don't belong here. Go back to your forest or you'll face the consequences." The said while putting Elliot on the ground. The Dragon was still blinded by fury and prepared a Dragon Pulse. "The hard way, eh? All right... it's been a while since I got serious in a fight..."

What Elliot saw that night... he would never forget.

The trident face pokemon begun to glow and it was getting brighter with each second. Elliot had to cover part of his face to see what was happenning, and then... the surprise. His colors were gone! All his blue and yellow colors turned in white.

Elliot felt a shiver. That was Aura. He never saw it but he knew instantly that that pokemon was covered in Aura. The only thing he read in a book was that Riolus and Lucarios were able to feel and manipulate the Aura of all living beings and communicate with them. " _So that's Aura... but... he is not a Riolu like me nor a Lucario!_ "

"I am Empoleon, the King of Seas! You attacked innocent pokemons and now you'll pay for that!" After that, his body got covered in water and he flew on the sky with a Aqua Jet. The Zweilous tried to hit him with two Dragon Pulses at the same time, but Empoleon dodged all and begun to spin around him while from his beak, a cold beam was fired. In less than a minute, the Zweilous was completely frozen in ice.

He went back to the ground, bent his knees and put both wings at the side of his body while a strange energy begun to concentrate. Elliot felt the shiver again. He was concentrating Aura!

" _... it can't be... Aura Sphere?!_ "

He always dreamed about learning that move ever since he heard about it at home... Cobalt's father, a Midnight Lycanroc, was an explorer and said he met a lot of Lucarios and described everything about the Aura Sphere... he said it was one of the rarest fighting type moves because only 13 pokemons could use it out of almost 800 pokemons, and half of the ones who could use it were Legendary Pokemons.

" _How can he use the Aura Sphere?!_ "

"By Arceus' name, I will vanquish evil! GO, AURA SPHERE!" He said and threw the concentrated energy at the frozen dragon. The ice shattered with a "BOOOOM" and exploded, sending shards of ice all over the place. After the dust from the explosion dissipated, the Zweilous was unconscious on the ground.

"That wasn't even a warm-up... well, whatever." The Empoleon said and after that he closed his eyes. The colors begun to return and he was a normal Empoleon again.

"What was THAT?" Elliot said while running till where he was.

"Let's talk about this later. Shouldn't you be worried about your friend?"

The Riolu stopped running in his direction and ran to rescue his friend. He searched at his backpack for something that could wake him up, but found nothing. He tried to lift him, but he was too weak at the moment.

"I think I have something that will help. Give me a minute" The Empoleon ran to the sea and dived. When he returned, he had a small seed with him and a bag. A real explorer's bag. The same one as Cobalt's father. "Put this in his mouth." He gave the seed to the Riolu who obeyed. "Let it there for some time. The ressurect seed will wake him up eventually, but let's talk about another thing. You know what Mystery Dungeons are, right?" he sat on the ground while looking to Elliot.

"Yeah... my friend's parents told us about it... but we never entered in one. We just went to the forest to collect some berries. Why do you ask?"

"Well... you are in one right now. You probably entered while running from him."

Elliot blinked and thought for a little before taking a deep breath. "Ah... so that's why I couldn't find the exit... Sir, I'm really sorry to have caused you trouble."

"Not at all. It's my duty to protect pokemons who are in need. After all, I'm one of the Kings."

Elliot never heard about that and was making a curious face.

"I see... So nobody told you about the Kings and Queens of the past either, right?" Empoleon asked a little sad. "What's the problem with these people? They can't just forget about us!"

"No, sir... or should I call 'Your Highness?'. I'm really sorry, I don't know very well about these things..." Elliot seemed ashamed.

"Oh, no! Not at all. I prefer just Empoleon but 'sir' is fine as well. Anyway... I could tell you here about us, but it would take a long time. You should search about it when you return to your home. Maybe try to spread the word that we're still there, protecting people, just like I did to you."

"Sure, but doesn't the explorers do the same?"

"Well... yes, but can explorers prevent events before they happen? I'll tell you this: No. Explorers adapt themselves to the reality of our planet. If there is chaos, they'll explore until they find the cause of it. If there is peace, they'll just explore to get food or make money. We, the Kings, make sure so we, and by we I mean every living being, only live in peaceful times. This work 90% of the times..." He gave a small lecture to the Riolu about the Kings and Queens. In the middle of it, he stopped.

"You want to be an explorer too, right? I see you have a great interest in my bag." He caught the Riolu glancing to his bag from time to time while he was talking.

"Yes, but I don't think I can be an explorer anytime soon. I don't have enough knowledge about the world and I believe I'm too young for it."

"Nonsense! I believe I had your age when I became a junior explorer. You just have to know where to go. Tell me, where do you live?"

"Moon Coast. It's a small village near the beach. Not this beach, the one on the other side. I believe it's just one hour away from here. We just have to cross the Berry Fields."

The penguin-like pokemon put a wing on the head and tried to remember where this village was. He was always diving in the ocean, so it was impossible to have a paper map with him.

"Let's see… we're at the Berry Fields… one hour from here… Moon Coast… " he had a hard time thinking about it. It seems he has never been there before and his sense of geography was awful.

"Sir, I can lead you there. It's becoming late anyway and Cobalt's parents will be worried if we get home too late. You can crash at my place.. although it's not much comfortable for someone your size."

"Thanks, kid. Let's get out of here when your friend wakes up… but now I'm worried. He should have opened his eyes after all this time we spent talking."

"I'll take a look…" Elliot stood up but felt his body heavy.

"You are tired. The fatigue from the battle is taking its toll on you now. Was that your first battle?"

"Yeah… I only trained my moves on trees… never in an actual battle."

"I see… so that's why you didn't know about your Copycat."

"Copycat?" Elliot asked but he had a feeling he knew about what he was talking.

"You can copy the last move used in battle. You tried to use Dragon Pulse again at that time but you used Force Palm just after the Copycat. If you tried using Copycat, you would have executed another Force Palm."

"I see… So that's why I didn't feel anything. Can I try it again? Just to get the grasp of it. I never trained it and I think it will be really useful in the future."

"Sure. Nothing is like testing a new move, right? Let's see… what was the last move of the battle…!" Empoleon stopped when he realized it was Aura Sphere and looked to the Riolu. Elliot's eyes were shining. He stood up even with his heavy body and begun to concentrate… but then, a beam of ice passed in front of his eyes. Empoleon had used Ice Beam on a rock near there. Elliot slowly turned to him with an expression of ' _Why?_ '

"Sorry, Elliot… I can't let you use Aura Sphere now. It requires a lot of concentration and stamina. If you tried to use it now, with your fatigue, you could make it explode in your face by accident… and believe me, that wouldn't be fun."

Elliot stayed in the same position. He really didn't want to believe he lost the chance to finally use Aura Sphere. " _Please, Arceus! If there is a minimum chance to use Aura Sphere, let me use it! Just this time!_ " He closed his eyes and kept the memory of Empoleon using it. The pose, his breathing, everything. He imitate the Empoleon at its minimum details, hoping that it wouldn't be an Ice Beam to get out of his hands. It was almost like he felt the energy of everything was flowing through his body. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Empoleon, shocked. He was out of words.

"Elliot! That's…!"

The Riolu turned his eyes to his hand. There it was. A perfect Aura Sphere on his hand!

"That's impossible! It should have been an Ice Beam! What the..."

Elliot forgot about Empoleon as he had the biggest smile on his face and waited for a wave to come. He didn't want to damage the forest.

"AURA SPHERE!" He screamed with joy as he threw the sphere at the sea. When it collided with the water, it exploded with a power Elliot never knew he had.

"Look, Empoleon! I did it! I… did…" He slowly closed his eyes and fell unconscious before finishing that phrase.


	2. I am one of the Kings

Elliot grunted while the sun hit his face. He put one hand in front of his eyes to block the light while slowly opening one. He recognized the place he was. It was Cobalt's house. He sat on the bed while stretching.

"Hmmm… what a strange dream…"

He looked to his side and saw Cobalt sleeping, with his belly facing up and his tongue out. " _What a silly way to fall asleep_ " he thought and stood up, trying to don't make any noise.

He didn't remember much of the dream, but there was a Empoleon who could use Aura Sphere… and after that, he was using Aura Sphere. The only part he clearly remembered was having that ball made of aura at his hands and throwing it at the sea. Why the sea? He had no idea, but it was an incredible sensation.

When he opened the door to get out of the room, there was something preventing his passage. He looked up and almost fell down when he noticed who was it.

"Good morning, Elliot. How are you feeling?" The Empoleon said while eating an apple.

The Riolu just froze. If that Empoleon, the same from his dream was there, then…

"You remember who I am, right?"

"Y-yeah…" He said while smiling a little. _"If_ _he is here, then I DID use an Aura Sphere!"_

"Oh, thank Arceus! You were out for almost 12 hours that I thought something had gone wrong." He said and then he whispered. "Listen, I really have no idea of how you did that last night, but don't try to copy my Aura Sphere. You know what that did to you… and don't tell the others about what happened at the beach and nor who I am, right? "

"Y-Yes, sir…" Elliot got a little intimidated with those words." and by what you are, you mean a Kin-!" He was stopped by a wing on his mouth.

"Shhhhh… yeah, about that. I brought you both home after you collapsed. It was really one hour in a straight line from where we were. I had to knock in every door of this village until I found your parents home. I introduced myself as an Explorer, which I really am. They let me stay here for the night and I told them everything that happened… So for now, explorer, not… the other thing, ok?" He said and got a confirmation from Elliot. Then, both of then heard a voice.

"Mr. Explorer? I heard Elliot's voice. Can you bring him here, please?"

"Sure, Zeph. One moment." he looked backwards to answer and then turned to the Riolu. "Let's go. Your parents wants to see you."

"Oh, they're not my…" He was interrupted again when Empoleon pulled him into the main room. A midnight and a midday Lycanroc were waiting for him.

"Elliot!" The midnight Lycanroc and Cobalt's father, Zeph, opened his arms and hugged him. "I'm so glad you are ok! Empoleon told us what happened. If I just had gone with you two…" he had a small scar across his right eye he earned in one of his adventures and had hypnotic red eyes. At first Elliot was afraid of that eyes, but with time he lost that fear.

"It's ok, sir… I insisted, remember? You two made so much for me that I wanted to repay anyway I could… I thought that getting fresh berries would be a good idea."

The Lycanroc breaked the hug while the other, Cobalt's mother, the midday Lycanroc named Liza spoke. She had a cute pink ribbon on her left ear and azure eyes, just like Cobalt. "You know that you don't have to that for us, right sweetie? Now, come here… I'm pretty sure you are hungry. Our visit offered himself to buy some fruits on the market and I must say they are de-li-cious"

As a matter of fact, he was. He hadn't eaten since yesterday and could feel his stomach complaining. As soon as he heard 'fruits' he felt the sweet scent coming from the table the canines family had. The house wasn't big, so the scent was really strong. If he knew Cobalt like he thought he knew, he would wake up with that scent. His sense of smell was much better than his.

Elliot grabbed an apple and gave it a big bite. He felt the taste invading it's mouth. It was exactly like Cobalt's mother said: Delicious!

"Oh my… I never ate an apple as delicious as this one!" Elliot exclaimed while giving it another bite.

"That's because it's not a normal apple. It's a Perfect Apple. They're like the best fruit you can find in a market nowadays. I was really luck to find these ones." Empoleon said while eating the one with him.

"Thank you very much, Empoleon… but aren't they kinda expensive?" Liza asked, concerned about the price.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I earned a lot during my adventures. " The penguin answered with a smile. "Besides, I do believe that the younger ones should have a great breakfast to compensate from yesterday."

The Lycanrocs agreed with him and all grabbed a fruit from the bag. While they were eating, a small ball of fluffy fur stormed into the room.

"WHAT IS THIS AMAZING SMELL?!" Cobalt exclaimed while sniffing the air.

 _"_ _Aaaaand there he is_." Elliot thought.

"Guess the younger of the house is awake." Empoleon said and only then the Rockruff noticed him there.

"Who are you, stranger?"

"Cobalt! Where are your manners?" His mother scolded him. This remembered Elliot to do the same.

"He is Empoleon, an explorer. He saved us after you passed out with that dragon's attack. Next time we go out, don't act on your own or things like that may happen again! We're are luck to be alive."

"Yeah, yeah… whatever. I told you I only wanted to help…" He answered halfhearted and faced the Empoleon with a bright smile. "Thanks for saving us!"

"You're welcome. It's was my duty after all. I couldn't stand seeing young pokemons like yourselves being attacked by a savage like that Zweilous…" He said that and faced the Lycanrocs. "Which reminds me… I would like to ask your permission to travel with Elliot."

Everyone's attention drifted from their food to the Empoleon.

"I saw him fighting to protect Cobalt. I believe he would make a great explorer some day and I would like to train him a little before putting him in a Guild I know. He has potential."

Zeph was a little surprised with that.

"Well… I planned on initiate him when he had more age. We would explore a mystery dungeon and I would explain everything, since what is a mystery dungeon and how to battle… but I think both of then were already done, right? Then…"

He faced Elliot.

"Elliot, let's fight. You probably won't be able to win, but I want to know the results of your trainings. I'll decide if you can go or stay after that."

Elliot couldn't believe in what he was hearing. The time has finally come for him to battle. Sure, he did that before to protect himself and Cobalt, but this time he knew he didn't face danger.

"Yes!" Elliot said excitedly

"Good, good… darling, can you get my bandanna?"

* * *

Outside of the village, in a small florest that was far from a dungeon, Elliot and Zeph were preparing to fight. Elliot had nothing with him while Zeph had his black bandanna tied on his left arm.

"Don't hold back, Elliot!" Cobalt said.

"You too, darling!" his mother completed.

The Empoleon leaned on a tree while the two other pokemons that weren't battling were on the ground, in the shadows made by the same tree. He missed doing those things. Ever since he became a King, it was like he forgot what is to have a normal life.

While they not engaged in battle, he closed his eyes. The memory from the last meeting of the Kings came back to him…

" _Ruka… you can't be serious…"_

 _"_ _I am… We will stop the meetings and will stop beings Kings for some time." The leader of the Kings said. "I don't know if we will ever meet again here on King's Garden, but I wish you all happiness"_

 _"_ _But… but what if something like…" he was interrupted._

 _"…_ _like 'that' happens again? We will deal with it when the time comes. Arceus will warn us if Darkrai appears again… and he took as much damage as we, so it will take some time… Look, I know you dedicated your whole life as the King of Seas to help other Pokemons, and I'm not asking you to stop doing it. You are an excellent explorer, one of the best I had the pleasure to meet. All I ask is for you to hide your King's identity for our sake. Some pokemon want us dead after… after…" the words didn't came._

 _"_ _But leader… I'm…"_

 _"_ _Please, Bryan… just for a while, ok? Hide it for a while. I'm not asking just you. I'm asking for all the Kings that are here. Just give me some time to think and to… recover…"_

 _He couldn't argue with that. He saw what happened and knew what she lost with all that madness caused by Darkrai..._

When he opened his eyes again, Elliot and Zeph had already started battling. The Riolu was quick on his moves and begun to circle his opponent while the Lycanroc didn't moved an inch.

Elliot went for the first hit with both of his palms glowing in yellow. He targeted Zeph's back.

" _Too wide…"_

Zeph simply turned his body and Elliot passed him without even touching his fur and rolled on the ground. As soon as he got back on his feet, he ran quickly to tackle the Lycanroc. This time, Zeph crossed his arms and stopped the attack with his own strength.

" _Not good enough…_ "

Zeph's body begun to emit a blue glow while he prepared a punch.

 _"_ _Counter…"_

His fist hit Elliot's belly and threw him some meters away, but wasn't enough to win the battle.

"Come on, Elliot… Are you telling me that is all you got?" Zeph provoked. "My turn to attack… prepare yourself!" Zeph assumed an offensive posture and closed his eyes while making some movements with his arms. After that, eight phantom swords appeared and circled him. Each of them pointed in his direction and after that, his body glowed again, this time in a red tone.

Bryan looked to Elliot and smiled. He did the same thing with Copycat.

Cobalt saw that happens before and told his mom how Elliot was able to copy the Zweilous's Dragon Pulse yesterday.

"Wait… so he has Copycat?"

"Copycat? Is that the name of this move?"

"Yes… Oh boy, Zeph will be surprised when he sees it."

"But mom… he just copied my father. Shouldn't he be surprised now?"

"Look closely, sweetie. Your father is concentrating his power to boost his attack. He has his eyes closed and because of that, he didn't saw Elliot's Copycat."

Bryan looked to Elliot again. He did it with his eyes opened, and not only that. He also finished the move first so Zeph wouldn't noticed he copied the Swords Dance. The Empoleon found that curious as Copycat was a move that should not finish first than the move being copied.

When Zeph opened his eyes, he didn't wasted time and dashed forward. He opened his mouth and sparks begun to come out. Elliot knew Zeph was faster than him so he didn't try to avoid it. He would confront it with everything he had. His palms glowed in yellow but instead of hitting the Lycanroc, he hit the ground. The explosion lifted sand and dust, that entered in Zeph's eyes, making him miss the Riolu, who rolled to the side before got bitten.

 _"_ _Thinking outside the box, eh?"_

While Zeph tried to get the sand out of his eyes, Elliot ran to the trees, hiding his presence there.

"I admit… that was clever…" When he finally opened his eyes again, he completed. "… but it won't work again." He slowly walked in the direction of the trees while his ears twitched from side to side.

Suddenly, two different sounds came from two different locations: One from his right and the other from his left. Instead of chasing one of them, his ear twitched again because of an almost inaudible 'crack' and he looked upwards. He caught Elliot jumping in his direction. "Gotcha!"

Zeph stomped one of his paws on the ground and, from it, sharp blue spikes came out in the Riolu's direction. The spikes hit Elliot's whole body and he was thrown higher up in the air.

"Oh dear… that's gotta hurt…" Liza said while looking to Elliot skyrocketing in the air.

"Come on, Elliot! You can do it!" Cobalt begun to cheer him up, even though he knew Elliot couldn't hear him

 _"_ _I believe it's over… That Stone Edge was powerful."_ The Empoleon thought while looking to him. While trying to focus on the image of the Riolu, that was starting to fall, he got goosebumps. He was sensible to Aura since he became a King, and he knew that something was happening with the Aura around Elliot _. "What in Arceus' name is happening…?"_

While falling, Elliot's vision got a little blured, but at the same time, he felt like everything was slow... or was just his mind thinking too fast? He felt like falling, but it would take a couple of seconds before hitting the ground… and he knew that before hitting the ground, Zeph would "Thunder Fang" him.

He felt pain while trying to move. He had almost no strength left, but he refused to give up. _"If I reach the ground before Zeph reach me… I can use Copycat to copy Stone Edge…"_

After thinking in that, it was like time returned to normal. He concentrated all of his strength and all of his thoughts into diving fast on the air. Just as he thought, Zeph was already running in his direction to grab him in midair.

 _"_ _Come on, Elliot! You can do it!"_ He thought to himself while remembering how Lycanroc used his move. The way he was diving, he wouldn't be able to use his feet to imitate Zeph. He hoped that punching the ground would have the same effect. He concentrated all his thoughts of Stone Edge on his fist and it glowed a little with a blue aura.

"What?!" Zeph exclaimed while seeing that Elliot accelerated in air and punched the ground.

"GO, STONE EDGE!" he screamed as the blue spikes emerged from the ground just like Zeph's and hit the Lycanroc with full power.

"C-Copycat?!" Zeph said astonished while in the air.

Elliot felt so many possibilities coming to his mind that it was a waste to stop! The adrenaline in his body was so intense that he didn't care if his ideas were possible or not.

 _"_ _If only I could move like Empoleon yesterday… I could hit Zeph again!"_

At the same time, the memory from Empoleon using Aqua Jet came to his mind. He took a deep breath and jumped. Immediately, water surrounded him and boosted his speed in a way he catched Zeph still flying.

Zeph didn't had time to react and got hit with full power by that move.

" _If only I could gather rocks like Cobalt yesterday… I could send them in Zeph's direction!"_

He broke free from the Aqua Jet some meters above and opened both arms. Rocks flew in his direction and begun to circulate him. After gathering a good quantity, he pointed his arms to Zeph and the rocks flew at him. The Rock Throw hit him in the arms, legs and face, sending him faster to the ground.

When Elliot noticed that they were really high, he remembered Empoleon using Ice Beam. It had more than one way to be used in combat. He put his hands together and the beam hit the ground. After that,it begun to grow in his direction. He created an 'ice slide' to get safely on the ground while Zeph hit some trees before finally stopping on the ground.

Heavy breathing and totally spent, his legs gave up and he sat on the ground. He looked to his side and saw that the Lycanroc stood up and was walking in his direction. " _Damn it… I couldn't finish him…_ "

Zeph had leaves and some small rocks stucked in his wet fur. He got closer to Elliot and fell on the ground just like him.

"I'm beat… I give up… What the hell, Elliot? How it is possible for you to know so many moves that you shouldn't even know? I was an explorer for twenty years and never heard of a Riolu or Lucario knowing Aqua Jet, Rock Throw and Ice Beam!" he was exhausted.

Empoleon and the rest of the Lycanroc family ran near them. All of them were shocked with that performance.

"That was… AMAZING! You have to teach me how to do that!" Cobalt said super excited while handed an Oran Berry to him. Before he could even answer, the Empoleon appeared.

"Elliot! I just have one question: How?" Bryan said with an enthusiasm that he thought he had lost a long time ago.

"I don't know… I just thought about you and Cobalt using moves from yesterday… and I knew I could recreate them."

"So you mean… your Copycat doesn't only works on moves using before it, but various moves you have saw before?! That… that means…!"

"What does that means…?" Cobalt asked

"That means you are an Irregular Pokemon! Your Copycat is irregular!"

"Irregular? I've heard of that term… In one of my journeys I encountered a Carracosta whose Aqua Tail left some opponents poisoned… they referred to him as an Irregular Pokemon." Zeph said and looked to Elliot with concerning eyes.

"Is that… a bad thing?" He asked

This time, Liza answered while her beloved ate some Oran Berries that Cobalt brought.

"Some pokemon see that as a bad thing. You aren't normal and some pokemons will avoid you and may be violent with you…"

"Oh…" Elliot seemed a little disappointed with that. "Then I'll have to hide this, right? But why I am an Irregular?"

"I already told you about Arceus, the God of Pokemons, right? So… some pokemons says it's due do Arceus being corrupted and…."

That got Empoleon's attention.

"Excuse me? Corrupted? What do you mean?"

"Oh, I forgot you weren't from here… in fact, I think it's time to tell both of you this story too." She said looking to Cobalt and Elliot. "Some years ago, there was a fight between the forces of evil and Arceus's chosen ones. They were called 'The Kings and Queens' of Pokemons."

Elliot changed glances with Empoleon and both payed attention to her again.

"Even though they didn't wear a crown, nor ruled any kind of land, they had this title because of their noble deeds that touched many populations. Arceus gave them gifts to protect our land. One of them was the Aura. There was a lot of studies about the subject but none could actually describe what is that Aura, but we do know that their Auras have some differences from the Aura that Lucarios manipulate. We lived in peaceful times until an enormous black hole appeared in the sky…"

Empoleon felt uneasy. It seems he was there on that day.

"Too many dark pokemons came from it, tormenting everyone while their leader, Darkrai, attacked the Kings's Garden, the place where the Kings and Queens lived. I… I don't remember exactly what happened and I know others pokemons don't remember it too. I tried to ask some of them about it and they were as surprised as I was for not being able to remember about that day. We gathered some people and discussed what was different since that day and we came to a conclusion: The temples we had for Arceus were destroyed, the fields that we used for harvesting berries, in which were totally destroyed by the bad pokemons were back to normal and the Kings didn't show up anymore. Pokemons started to hate them for not doing anything to help us…"

Bryan interrupted. "But how does that explain Arceus being corrupted?!" He was trying really hard to control himself.

Liza had a sad expression.

"I… I really can't prove it… but some believes Darkrai corrupted his 'Dread Plate' while battling on that day. It's was the only reasonable answer me and the others could find… but we don't have a clue if this is true. I prayed every day for the Kings's return, but it seems that this battle dissipated them or something like that… None of them showed up since that day."

Bryan then closed his eyes and smiled. It became wider and then he was laughing. That situation was far worse than he thought.

"I knew it… I knew it was an error to hide! All these people in need of us and what we did? Nothing!" He completely lost it and begun to scream to the sky. "Arceus! If that was really your order, than I'm really sorry but I can't stand it anymore! I'll find everyone! I don't care how much time it will take, I'll find everyone and we will protect the land once more!"

The expression of _'What the hell is he talking about?'_ was on the Lycanrocs' face. Elliot gulped, as there is no way he could stay in silent after that.

Empoleon took some deep breathes and turned his body to face them. He was a little calmer than before.

"Liza, I know everything about what you are saying. I was there when this all happened. Please, let me introduce myself again." He begun to glow as the Aura covered his whole body. The pokemons there could feel the pressure of that aura. In a matter of seconds, his gold and blue colors turned into a sparkling black and white. Liza, Zeph and Cobalt gaped at him during the whole transformation. "My name is Bryan and I am one of the Kings."


	3. Rook City

**_Thanks for the Review RuneTheLucario! I'm glad you are enjoying it :)_**

* * *

Elliot was the only one not surprised by that sudden transformation, but his heart raced as if it was the first time.

Liza stood up, still trembling. She had joyful tears in her eyes as she discovered that her prayers were answered! One of the Kings returned and he would bring the rest of them together!

"Liza, I promise you: I'll gather all the Kings once more and we will protect our land just like before."

"I believe in you, King…." She would kneel in front of him to show respect, but Bryan made a 'no' with his head.

"Please, call me Bryan…"

He 'deactivated' his aura, exchanged glances with the midnight lycanroc and faced Elliot.

"Let's go Elliot. We have plenty of road to walk."

"Wait… does that mean…?"

Zeph smiled and nodded.

"It seems I underestimated you, Elliot. You aren't the little Riolu that need help every five minutes anymore. You have grown." He put his paw on the Riolu's head and messed his fur. "You have my permission, Elliot, even though you never needed one because I see now that you are independent. Go, Elliot! Go see new Pokemons, new places… Go see the world."

Liza approached him and nuzzled him. "You always will have a home here. Visit us sometimes."

"Don't worry, Elliot! I'll finish cleaning the treehouse and I will take care of it!" Cobalt said while wagging his tail. They spent a lot of time in the treehouse and it was a precious place for them.

"You live in a tree?" Bryan asked.

"Yeah… but it got hit by lighting when a storm showed up. Since Zeph, Liza and Cobalt know me for a long time they let me stay in their house while mine is still broke."

"Oh… I thought you were adopted since you told me they weren't your parents." He mumbled and then he noticed what he said after everybody looked to him. "Oh shinx… I just broke the whole sentimental scene…I'll wait over there…" He pointed with his two wings to a large tree far from there. "Take your time... and sorry…" He was ashamed. His old habit of 'talk first, think later' came back out of nowhere. Elliot laughed. "Even someone like the King of Seas can get flustered..."

After some time, Elliot was ready to depart. The neighbors heard the news that Elliot would travel and all of them came to give him some presents.

Most of them were consumables to help on the journey. Moon Coast didn't had many dungeons near it, and because of that, it wasn't a great attraction for explorers. Cobalt's family was one of the few who entered in the dungeons nearby but just to collect extra berries when the harvest wasn't great, which almost never happened. Moon Coast had very large fields where the Sunfloras and Cacneas cultivated fruits, berries and when they had luck, even some seeds.

Elliot helped them whenever he could. It was a good way to train his body as he had to endure the heat of the sun and carry bags full of itens from one place to another and for long periods. If training with trees was good to practice his moves, harvesting berries was good for his stamina.

Bryan just observed everything from the gate that lead to the village. It was more like a fence than a gate, but it was strong. He sighed and closed his eyes. He remembered all of his comrades. He was eager to see them again, but only after he really calmed down, he realized there was no easy way to find them. The Kings knew how to hide their presence, even from other Kings. He was sensible to Aura, but not to the point where he could feel where they were. He only had wild guesses. He took a map (which the Lycanrocs gladly gave them) and begun to study it.

 _"_ _I almost forgot how the continent of Irisia is big… Let's see…"_

He looked to the map from top to bottom and then he turned it upside down, but it was no use. He really couldn't understand maps.

"Okay, Bryan… I'm ready to go." Elliot appeared out of nowhere and saw him having problem with the piece of paper on his wings. "Need help with that?"

"Hm? Oh, this? No, not at all…" He folded the map and put it inside his bag. "If you are ready, then let's go." He said that and crossed the fence. Elliot took a deep breath and begun his journey to see the world.

"Elliot!" Two voices called out to him. Voices he knew very well. "We will always be here for you!"

"Have a safe trip and enjoy it to the fullest!"

" _Thanks, Zeph and Liza…I will!"_

* * *

Both the Empoleon and the Riolu have been walking for almost an hour, and for Elliot, it seems like the scenario didn't changed a bit. It was a plain road with some trees. Bryan stated that it was because Moon Coast was far from the civilization. It was the Southeast part of the continent.

"Elliot, what do you know about Guilds?" The Empoleon tried to start a conversation as even he was getting tired of the same view.

"Err… Zeph told me about them. Pokemons must pass a test in the Guilds to become an explorer, right?"

"Yes, but not only that. You get missions from there too, like retrieving a stolen item or defeating a bad pokemon…" Bryan put his wing inside his bag and took an blue orb from there. "Do you know what this is?"

Elliot observed for a little but had no clue of what that was.

"This is called an orb. You can find them inside mystery dungeons or someone may give you one as a reward for helping them. There are many types of orbs and they do many different things. This one, for example, can make the weather rainy."

"What? Really? How?" Elliot had no idea how a small thing like that could change the weather.

Empoleon grinned and smashed the orb. The white clouds on the sky begun to get darker and, in a matter of seconds, a thin rain begun to fall. Elliot was awestruck.

"This is incredible! I need to bring some of these back home when I return. It would help the berries to grow faster!"

As they felt the water on their faces, they heard some growls. It seems there were wild Pokemons there that didn't like the rain coming from nowhere. One of these Pokemons was an Hippowdon who had an angry face… or that was his normal face? Elliot didn't know.

"Ok, Elliot… want to take care of this?"

"Me?" He said perplexed.

"Let's begin your training. Fight him." Empoleon said and turned his back to Elliot. Before the Riolu could say anything, the Hippowdon threw sand at his face. He had his mouth opened so he begun to cough while trying to take the wet sand out.

When he finally opened his eyes, his opponent was charging in his direction with fire on the jaws. Elliot tried to evade but he slipped on the mud and was slow to react. The Fire Fang hit his arm and he screamed. Thanks to the Rainy orb changing the weather, that move was significantly weaker, but still hurt like hell.

" _Ok, now you asked for it…"_ He was a ground type Pokemon. All he had to do was to use Empoleon's Aqua Jet again with his Copycat. He visualized the move on his head again and prepared to jump. When he did, he had a surprise: No water surrounded him. He didn't used Aqua Jet like he planned. What he did was jump in the direction of the Hippowdon, who was preparing another Fire Fang to bite him.

He had to think fast and as soon as he touched the ground in front of the Hippowdon, he used Quick Attack to get away from there. _"Damn it… I need another move…_ " As he tried to remember another super effective move against ground types he had seen, he looked to Empoleon. He was fighting against four others Hippowdons and they seemed bigger and stronger compared to the one he was facing.

 _"_ _Ok, Elliot. Focus…"_ He tried to use Copycat to copy another of Empoleon's moves:The Ice Beam. He put his hands together… but again, nothing happened. " _Why it is not working?!"_

When the Hippowdon charged for another attack, Elliot did the same thing he did against Zeph. He put his hands on the ground and used Force Palm to create an small explosion and send sand and dust to the air. He quickly took some steps backs but fell on the ground when everything begun to shake and then, the ground beneath him exploded, sending him flying. He was hit by an Earthquake.

When he fell on the ground, he was all dirty and in pain, but he didn't want to lose.

" _Ok… Forget Bryan… I need another move against him…_ " He searched in his memories something that could help. He had no memories from another water or ice moves… but he had for grass. The Cacneas used on wild pokemons who tried to eat the berries before they could grow.

 _"_ _This is my last chance…_ " He put both arms in front of him and suddenly, he felt the energy running through his arms and reaching his fingers. _"YES!"_

From his hands, a red beam was fired and hit the Hippowdon, turning his body in a reddish color before going back to normal. The hippo pokemon screamed in pain as Elliot felt new energies on his body. His strenght was back.

"Absorb is awesome!" He said and this time, went for another attack. He put both hands on the Hippowdon's face and exploded it with Force Palm. The ground pokemon growled in pain again.

"This will give me time…" Elliot said and closed his eyes as he extended his arms to the sky. He felt his arms getting hotter and the energy concentraded between them. The Hippowdon did nothing as he was still trying to regain his vision, and that gave the Riolu all the time he needed. On his hands, a small ball of sun light formed and expanded and he shoot it on Hippowdon's direction.

"Take this! SOLARBEAM!" Elliot screamed as he fired it. It was a strong move and he had to steady his feet on the ground or else he would lose control. The beam of light exploded in contact with the hippo pokemon and created a crater where he was standing. After making sure his opponent had fainted, he went to help Bryan, but his help wasn't necessary.

Bryan was "flying" with his Aqua Jet and cornering the four pokemons in a row with his Ice Beam. After that, he froze their feet so they wouldn't move.

"I'll finish this in one go…" He opened both wings and then made a pose like he was crushing something between his wings. Elliot could see the blue energy compacting in a sphere. Not an Aura Sphere. There was no Aura in that move, but there was water. It was his ultimate move, apparently.

"HYDRO CANNON!"

Bryan fired the brilliant azure ball in their direction. The orb of water collided with the first Hippowdon and pushed it together with the others. The Hydro Cannon hit all four of them and exploded, sending water everywhere.

The Empoleon sighed. "Wild pokemons… it's been a while since one of them gave me trouble. These are just so weak that I could finish them only with Aqua Jet, but sometimes is good to train others moves…" He heard the Riolu coming closer. "How was your battle, Elliot?"

"I managed to win… but it was hard… and the Copycat only helped me in the end."

"How so?" Bryan said while he tookfrom his bag one apple for him and an oran berry for the Riolu

"It's strange, Bryan… I did everything like I did against Zeph… I visualized you using Aqua Jet and Ice Beam, but this time the move didn't came… I had to think about what other moves that were super-effective against ground types I had seen before."

Bryan heard everything with his eyes closed while eating the apple.

"Elliot, first rule: Do not get dependent on only one move, even if that move can get you thousand others. If by any chance an opponent blocks your Copycat, you'll have to deal with him with your others moves. You have to train all of them."

Elliot nodded.

"Second: It seems that your Copycat has limitations. You can copy every move you saw before, but only one per memory. You saw me using the Aqua Jet yesterday and used against Zeph. You tried the same thing today and it failed. Now, you saw me using against these wild pokemons. Try to copy it."

Elliot did what he told and the water surrounded him and he jumped to the sky.

"See? This time it worked. You'll have to be more careful when using this to your full potential."

Elliot landed on the ground. He had a powerful move, but it had limitations.

"Anyway, Elliot. We're almost arriving at Rook Town. From there we can get to the city where the Guild is in an instant."

"What do you mean by "in a instant?"

Bryan grinned.

"Have you ever heard of 'Teleportation'?"

* * *

Rook Town had a huge wall that made Elliot's neck hurt just by looking up. It was known by its fortified defenses and a place where steel pokemons gather up to train for the police department. Every town had a department where pokemons from an specific type could train to become police officers, but Rook Town was famous for creating the best ones since Steel had resistance to more than half of the types.

As they approached the town's gates, a Bisharp passed by them with a face full of anger. Elliot observed him but did nothing. He seemed like he didn't want to be disturbed… and those blades on his arms were really sharp… he didn't want to discover what it was like being cut by that.

When they finally entered inside the town, a reddish insect-like pokemon with metal body greeted them.

"Good morning, sir. Welcome to Rook Town. I see you are a steel type pokemon. Are you interested in our police program?"

"Good morning, and no, thank you. I'm an explorer and this one is my pupil. We just would like to use the teleportation system to get to Iris City."

"Certainly. May I see your exploration badge? It's just for a security check. We've been dealing with a lot of impostors and robbers, but nothing that our police department can't deal with."

Bryan grabbed his bag and begun to search for the badge. "Let's see… I put it somewhere here…"

While he searched for the badge, Elliot had a question.

"Excuse me… I'm new on towns. I'm Elliot from Moon Coast. Why does this town needs walls so big?"

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Czar and I'll gladly answer your question, Elliot. You see… A long, long time ago, pokemons lived in cities with no barriers, gates or something like that. One day, they met war. Cities, towns and landscapes were destroyed and lots of pokemons lost their lives. Every part of the continent had downs. Thinking about the future, an explorer by the name of 'Rookis Lairan' founded this town. He was an Aggron and a very powerful one with incredible ideas. He and the city folks from that time constructed these walls under scorching suns and cold rains. When it was done, they baptized this town as 'Rook Town' in honor of his name. The walls aren't used for war any more, but instead, we use it as tourist attraction." He pointed to a place where there was a lot of pokemons in line, waiting for their turn to enter in the wall. "Of course, we still practice the drills to never forget why it was built. If the time comes, we will be ready to protect our citizens."

Elliot loved knowledge and wanted to know more, but Bryan found his badge and showed then to the Scizor.

"Oh my… you are a Master Rank Explorer!" Scizor said that with an surprised tone while looking to that Black Badge. He took the badge and analyzed it. "I never touched one. It really is incredible… and you are so young!" He gave it back to the Empoleon. "Sorry for the inconvenience. I believe that wasn't very professional."

"No problem. I know it's rare to found someone like me nowadays. I just used to 'live' in dungeons. I did every mission I could until the day my guild decided to hide the jobs from me to let others have a chance to succeed too." He laughed and the Czar did the same.

"Well, I know you aren't going to stay long time here, but I do hope you enjoy your stay" He said and granted them passage through the gate. Inside the town, it was very different from what Elliot expected. It was a normal town with a lot of houses, but they weren't made of steel.

"I can see in your face it's not what you expected, but if I'm not wrong, they have a secret basement… and yes, most of it is made of metal and steel."

As they walked through the town, Bryan pointed to a large, round building. It was all made of steel, (like everything was supposed to be in the city according to Elliot.)

"The teleportation service is there. It is run by Alakazams. They can teleport you to any city… but of course, it costs money."

"Bryan… may I ask how much you have?"

"Sufficient… don't worry about it. I still have a lot on the bank run by the Duskull and Dusclops. They're a perfect place to guard money. Their motto is: ' _Your money will be stored here forever and ever if you wish for_.' Nice, right?"

After they entered in the facility, Bryan talked with a Kirlia recepcionist about the price for two travels while Elliot saw how it worked the transport service. One of the clients, a Makuhita, stood in a circular platform while four Alakazams gathered around him, touching his body with eyes closed. Then, after some seconds, they opened their eyes and they begun to glow in blue. The body of the fighting pokemon did the same and disappeared in less than a second after it glowed.

"Err… Bryan? Is this safe?"

"Safe? This is the safest travel one could ever afford! I used it almost all the time to get to places I would have spent days by foot."

Well… that explained why he didn't knew how to use a map.

"Let's go, Elliot. We're the next." Bryan said that, but when he was about to enter in the room with the Alakazams, a group Inkays followed by a Malamar entered and spread themselves.

They did not said anything. They only entered and begun to hypnotize everyone. The Kirlia recepcionist fell asleep before she could do anything.

"What the…" Bryan said turning his back and preparing to fight but three pokemons targeted him with the hypnosis. He had no chance to act and fell asleep on the ground.

Elliot took something from the bag he carried while the other pokemons were occupied hypnotizing the Empoleon and put it in the mouth before being hit by the Hypnosis as well. He got on his knees and fell on the ground like the others.

"Good work team... Now we only need to deal with the Alakazams and steal every gold from here." The Malamar, who was the leader from that group, said while going to the cash box.

Elliot wasn't asleep. He had grabbed a chesto berry and put it inside his mouth. As soon as he felt the hypnosis taking effect, he swallowed it and faked his sleep. The Malamar really wasn't expecting someone to be awake and only put one Inkay to guard the place.

Elliot had two options: Fight the Inkay or try to wake Bryan without being noticed. He was near, but the Inkay might notice his movement.

He decided to risk and wake Bryan. He slowly crawled to the Empoleon's side but he almost got busted when the Inkay turned quickly to his direction. He begun to get closer as he noticed the Riolu wasn't in the place he saw before. Elliot had an idea.

"Daddy… hmm… My money…. They'll rob it…" Elliot tried his best to fake his dream… and the dumb Inkay fell for it.

"O-ho-ho… my day of luck. Let's see how much this kiddo has..." He went to grab his bag, but Elliot was fast and grabbed one of his tentacles and pulled it to the ground. As soon as the Inkay hit his head on the floor, Elliot grabbed another thing from his bag, put it into the Inkay's month and made him swallow with his strength. The psychic pokemon got slower and slower… until it finally fell asleep. It was the only Sleep Seed he had and he made sure to use it well.

Before the others noticed they were with one less Inkay, he made sure to wake Bryan with another Chesto Berry. He put one in his beak and the Empoleon opened his eyes.

"Ok, that was shameful… A King like me being immobilized on a robbery… please, never tell someone about it…"

Elliot laughed a little and put his bag on the ground to move faster. He grabbed a lot of chesto berries and went to help the others.

"These guys… now they got me mad…" He said while looking through the window. They had K'O almost all the Alakazams there. They weren't made for fight as they only knew Pyschic moves. Inkays and Malamars were dark Pokemons and psychic moves wouldn't have a single effect on them.

"Everyone, listen: Anyone here knows the move 'Uproar'?"

From the many pokemons there, only two raised their hands. A Chatot and an Ambipom

"Good, come with me. We will stop those marginals..." He went in to the door and explained the plan. "I'll burst this door and after that you two use Uproar. They won't be able to use Hypnosis to put us to sleep anymore and I will strike them with everything I have."

Elliot was about to say he would go there too when Empoleon begun to count.

"3…2…1…NOW!" His wings turned in solid metal and he broke the door. All the Inkays turned to the door, but all they saw was a Pokemon covered in water dashing in their direction.

"Everybody, use Hypnosis!" the Malamar screamed but before they could use, the Chatot and the Ambipom begun to jump, stomp on the ground and scream, making horrible sounds. With that, no one could fall asleep on the room and the Empoleon hit the majority of the Inkays with his Aqua Jet.

"Inkays, protect me!" The Malamar said while two Inkays created a Barrier in front of him. The Reflect would diminish the damage from physical attacks. Elliot didn't think twice and ran in front of the two pokemons using Uproar and used the Copycat to copy the Reflect. The barrier appeared in front of them just when some Inkays attacked them with their tentacles, trying to constrict them.

"Tch… damn Riolu… you'll go down first!" The Malamar said and sent a wave of purple energy in his direction. The move was a special move, not Physical, so the barrier had no effect. Elliot felt a intense pain spreading on his body and feel on his knees. That was super effective against him.

"Elliot!" Bryan screamed and went back to help him. When he landed in front of the Riolu, he used the Ice Beam to create a small wall to protect them against other attacks.

"Hey, buddy… calm down!"

Elliot couldn't. The pain reached his head and it wasn't going away. He begun to struggle on the ground. "He is confused..." He turned to the pokemons who were outside the room. "Anyone who knows what a Cheri Berry is, bring it here now and give it to him! There are some on his bag that is on the ground!"

The Kirlia knew what it was as she could confuse pokemons with her moves. She teleported herself to his bag, grabbed the cheri berry and teleported again next to him.

Bryan went back to fight against all those pokemons. The room was totally destroyed as the moves clashed. The Alakazams who hadn't fainted used the rest of their strengths to grab their friends and teleport away from there.

All the Inkays had fainted thanks to Bryan's power, but the Malamar was still there with minimum damage.

"You won't win against me!" The Malamar's body flexed his muscles and charged at the Empoleons with great speed. Empoleon used Aqua Jet one more time, but his opponent's move hit him in the belly, and it was not a normal move. It was Superpower, a fighting type move that was super effective against his steel type.

Bryan was thrown at a wall, making a huge hole on it that lead to the street.

"… and there is my escape!" He grabbed a bag full of money and went in the direction of his exit… but he did not counted on the Riolu who magically appeared in front of him.

"Payback time!" Elliot had used the Teleport he saw the Alakazams using and appeared in front of him with the palm of his hands shining. He touched the Malamar body and then made an explosion, sending him back to the room. The Malamar coughed some times before saying something.

"Damn you…!" He tried to stand up, but the secondary effect of the Force Palm kicked in. He was paralyzed.

Elliot took a deep breath and then sighed as he saw that huge pokemon being immobilized by the police officers who entered in the building a few seconds ago. It seems one of the clients went to ask for help while they were fighting.

Bryan was already up, but had fury on his eyes. He went back to finish the Malamar while already channeling his Aura, but the fury disappeared when he saw what Elliot had done.

"You paralyzed him?"

"Yup. Force Palm with both hands. Twice the damage, twice the chance for the paralyzation effect."

Bryan sighed and sat on the ground.

"Damn it, Elliot… you are a natural for battles. I'll have to resume my training routine if I want to be as sharp as before…"

"I can help you… if you want." Elliot said while grabbing both of their bags.

"I take that offer…thanks." He said and looked to that place. "Well… it seems we will have to take the long way till Iris City. The Teleportation Service will be… out of service for a while." He took his bag from Elliot.

"I don't mind walking… I can run all day and night."

"Yeah, but I can't… I don't have as stamina as you. Let's find a place to crash and rest for a while. It seems we will be here for the rest of the day."

"Er… Bryan?" Elliot called. "We can't leave now. The police will need details of what happened… and a lot of them saw you fighting. We need to stay."

"Fuck… I miss the old 'explore dungeon' thing… This city's laws are all a headache for me…" He said while standing up.

The Malamar, who now was all chained, gave a death glare to Elliot.

"You'll pay for it, you son of a…" Before he could finish his sentence, he begun to tremble and scream in pain before fainting. The Magnezone who had arrested him had used Discharge.

"ZZZT! A bad Pokemon with bad intentions and bad language. ZZZT! I'll lock you in a 'bad' place to match your bad actions. ZZZT!" The Magnezone said and after that went in Elliot and Bryan's direction.

"ZZZT! You two stopped him, right? ZZZT! He had a reward on his head. ZZZT! Pass by the delegacy later to claim it. ZZZT!"

"Not necessary. Give our parts to the clients inside there." He said while looking to the teleportation facility.

"ZZZT! I expected nothing less from an explorer. ZZZT! Thanks for the help and take care. ZZZT!" The officer said and went to take the Malamar to his new home: The jail.

Elliot found a familiar face in the middle of the officers. It was Czar, the Scisor he saw before. He was there with other police pokemons and after a while he saw the Riolu.

"Oh, Elliot… you were here during the attack? Of course you were… the Empoleon told me you were going to use the Teleportation Service… What exactly happened here?"

Elliot explained everything and Bryan almost cried inside when he metioned they 'knocked him out' instantly.

"No need to be ashamed, Bryan sir. Three Hypnosis at the same time even a Moltres would succumb."

"That's not the problem… I didn't react in time. Even Elliot who is younger than me had the time to grab a chesto berry on his mouth…"

"I'm smaller… They payed attention in you while I did that. If I had your height, things wouldn't be the same." Elliot comforted him.

Seeing that both of them didn't have a place to stay, the Scisor made an offer.

"Say now… you don't have a place to stay right? Would you like to spend the rest of the day at my place? Tomorrow we can think of a way to send both of you to Iris City."

The Empoleon and the Riolu changed glances. It was better than nothing.

"We accept." Both said at the same time, much for the Scisor delight.

"Great! Have a tour on the city and wait for me next to where we met. As soon as my work is done I'll meet you there and take you to my home."

* * *

 ** _Guys, I need a sincere review: How is my writing? Too repetitive? Too boring?_**

 ** _I'm trying to make it sound interesting, but I can't do it alone. I need the readers help ^^_**


	4. The Rough Life of a Junior Explorer

**Hello guys... sorry for taking a year to update this. Life's been rough. I'll try to update this as quick as possible because now I have a great friend of mine helping me with some details.**

 **Anyway, hope you all enjoy it**

* * *

It was already late when Elliot caught himself staring out the window. The starry sky was just like home, except that now he can see some buildings too.

He was daydreaming about the guild. How was it like? Who was the guildmaster? Would he become a good explorer? Would he go for solo missions or team up with some explorers? And about the Kings? Could he become one?

"…!"

Become a King… he never thought about that until now. Is there a specific path you have to follow to earn that title? Maybe he should ask Bryan about it…

Just when he thought about him, he heard his voice.

"Elliot! Come down here a minute!"

"Okay!" Elliot said while turning his head in the voice's direction. Then, he slowly went downstairs. He was in a guests room that Czar generously offered him for the night. It wasn't big, but had a nice view through the window.

When the Riolu arrived where the other two pokemon were, both of them were sitting on chairs talking about explorations.

"Oh my… Bryan, how long have you been exploring dungeons?

"A few years… but like I said, I've explored a lot. Even my partner couldn't stand my obsession with exploring new places. There was this time he refused to go on any explorations for a month because he was tired of risking himself… but what is exploration without a few risks?"

"Oh, I understand that. Exploring was my dream during my youth… but my parents insisted that I joined the Rook City Police… something about "pride of the family". We help explorers as much as we can, providing info about their targets, bandits, terrain… things like that, but I never had the chance to enter in dungeons.

"But some police officers do enter in dungeons. I went on a lot of explorations with them."

"I'm certain of that, Bryan sir… the problem is this city. You two… do you mind keeping a secret?" Czar said while looking to both of them almost ashamed. Both of them nodded. "This city is full of corruption. The best police officers only offer their help if you pay them… if you can't afford it, you're on your own to resolve your problem.

"But doesn't that give chance for the other police officers?"

"Yeah… but they still charge you. A lot less, but they still charge…" He clenched his claws. "My pride as a police officer from Rook City that I inherited from my father doesn't let me turn a blind eye for this problem… but I have no idea where to begin…"

"Hm…" Elliot who was in silence all that time began to speak. "Why don't you start by accepting the missions? You don't have to charge them for your help."

"That was my first thought and I really tried once… but my superiors didn't like the idea that I could steal their fame and profit. They never let me accept another mission."

Bryan had his eyes closed while thinking about it.

"That's not fair! They're stopping you from doing your job! It's wrong!" Elliot almost screamed. "If only I could get some missions I would totally ask for your help…"

"That's it!" Bryan said while opening his eyes. "Czar, I want you to show me the post list tomorrow. We'll take all the missions."

"Whaaaat?!" Both Czar and Elliot said surprised.

"I want to see them try to compete against this…" He said while putting his exploration badge on the table. Czar's eyes shone but he suddenly shook his head.

"Sir… I'm really thankful for your offer, but I can't ask this of you. There are too many… more than fifty… well, with the teleportation center out of commission, I think we have about twenty… but still…!"

Bryan put a wing on his beak, asking for silence.

"Did you forget with who you are talking to? My life is inside dungeons… and I'm not alone. The most dangerous ones you leave with me. The easy ones you can leave to Elliot."

"Sir, I don't have an exploration badge… I can't accept missions."

"We're a team right now, Elliot. You can use my badge to accept missions as long as I give consent."

Elliot was really euphoric with all that, but he felt his body too heavy to celebrate.

"You two must be exhausted from today. I'll prepare your beds. Give me one moment…." Czar said and stood up from his chair and went in the direction of the bedrooms.

"Elliot… if this city has this dirty problem, I need to help. It's my duty as a King… I believe we will need to delay our trip to Iris City.

"I totally agree with you… and I was meaning to ask you something. About the Kings."

"Oh, ask away."

"How can one become a King? I mean… is it like a mission, a reward…?"

Bryan stopped for a moment while trying to think of an answer, but he was taking too long.

"Well…?"

"Wait a moment, please! No one ever asked me that!" He put both wings on his head. "I can't remember what she told me!

"Let me change the question: How did you become a king?"

Bryan froze. That question made a surge of memories long forgotten come to his mind.

* * *

 _It was a calm night but with a heavy atmosphere. Bryan was doing his best to keep his mentor alive. He was a Golduck who he'd admired a lot._

" _Bryan… come closer... I want to tell you something…"_

" _Sir, you're in no condition to talk. Please, rest."_

" _I don't have much time… I must pass this on or else the world will be in danger…"_

' _The world?' Bryan thought. Was he delirious? His mentor was the calmest person he knew. What did he want to do that could be this urgent?_

" _Do you know the Kings and Queens of Pokemon?"_

" _Of course I know. They protect everyone…"_

 _The Golduck simply smiled as his body lost the blue color and turned white. The Empoleon shivered with that transformation._

" _As you can see… I'm one of them… I'm the King of Seas… but I can no longer be a king… I'm passing this title to you."_

 _The Empoleon snapped from his thoughts with that last phrase. "Wait… me? A King? I can't!_

" _Yes, you can… you are young… you just evolved. You'll be a powerful king in the future… I trust you to inherit my legacy. This past year I searched for someone to be my successor. You are perfect for the job…" He coughed for a while, so Bryan used a scarf to clean him. There was blood._

 _The Golduck extended his arm and touched his chest. Bryan felt something being pushed against him but that feeling suddenly disappeared._

" _This was the proof I'm a king… it belongs to you now..."_

" _Please sir… don't talk too much. You must rest your body or your condition will become worse…"_

" _Rest for what, Bryan? To die? I'm too old… this is my final wish…" He took a deep breath and held his wing._

" _I'm going to teach you something only I know… it's called 'The Oath of the Seas'. Repeat with me:_

 **" _From this day on, I'll devote my whole heart and soul_**

 ** _To prove that I am worthy to have this role_**

 ** _I'll rise from the ground as many times as it takes_**

 ** _Because the Aura will guide me, even if my body breaks_**

 ** _I'll be hard and sturdy just like a tower_**

 ** _And all my enemies will feel my power_**

 ** _My future is bound to be like the waters of a river_**

 ** _Anywhere it passes, life will deliver_**

 ** _No matter the pain, no matter the costs_**

 ** _I'll protect the weak, even if my life exhausts_**

 ** _I'll sink corruption away with a huge flood_**

 ** _Even if that is made with my own blood._**

 ** _Love above hate. Truth above lies_**

 ** _Upon this oath, a new king shall arise"_**

 _Bryan repeated every single word even though he didn't want to. He didn't want to take his place as a king. Golduck was his hero, his mentor… everything he knew was thanks to him._

 _After finishing the oath, Bryan's body glowed. His body never did that before and in the blink of an eye, he was black and white. He saw himself veiled in what he later discovered was Aura._

" _Arceus accepted you… You're now the King of Seas." He took a deep breath. "Gardevoir… please…"_

 _The Empoleon felt his body being covered with a psychic power that he didn't know from where it came. He couldn't move._

" _Goodbye Bryan… give my regards and best wishes to the other kings…"_

" _Wait, si-!" His surroundings shifted in a instant. From an old house to a large white room with fifteen other pokemon staring at him._ _He felt a shiver when a powerful female voice echoed in the hall. That voiced didn't sounded like a Gardevoir. One was definitely there, but another Pokemon spoke. This one was much more well built and had a demanding aura around her as she spoke.  
_

" _Welcome to King's Hall, Empoleon. You are our new King of Seas."_

 _He had the feeling that something otherworldly was undergoing and he was now a part of it._

* * *

"Bryan? Hello?" Elliot called his name and Bryan snapped from his memory.

"Oh… sorry, Elliot. Let's see… I got my powers from another king."

"So, to become a king, another king has to give me power?"

"That's one way… but let's change the subject for a while. Czar is coming back."

He managed to avoid talking about becoming a king. There was a lot of things to do before becoming one, but he couldn't remember any of them at the moment. ' _Maybe it's better this way… I don't want him thinking about it when there is so much he has to learn_ '.

"I prepared your beds. Since Elliot seemed to like the window, I put him next to one."

"Thank you!" Elliot gave him a smile while going to bed.

"Oh, I can't wait to have some rest. Can you show me the way?"

"Sure. Just follow me." The Scizor pointed out with his claws to a room next to where they were.

"Good night, Czar. Good night, Bryan. I'm going to bed too." Elliot said while going back to the room he was earlier. There, was a simple bed with a small pillow. It was perfect for his size.

As he closed his eyes, his mind went far away, back to Moon Coast. He missed his family from there. What Cobalt was doing? How Zeph and Liza were? Would they believe in what he did today with those bandits?

While thinking about those things, he fell asleep.

* * *

The Riolu was tense. He was about to accept his first mission. He was looking to the bulletin board, trying to find an easy one… but there was one problem.

He didn't know how to read.

Zeph and Lisa always told them stories, but they never had books to teach him. He could understand a map, but not words.

"Is there a problem, Elliot? Choose one already." Bryan said while looking to him. He gulped and chose a random one, praying for it to be an easy mission. He pointed to a small paper. Bryan got closer.

"Hmmm… You sure? Although the paper is small, that's a hard mission."

Elliot froze and Bryan laughed.

"HAHAHA, you had to see your face! Come on, Elliot. Even I know that you can find a missing toy."

The Riolu returned to normal. Bryan didn't notice he picked it at random, but Czar did.

"Elliot… Do you know how to read?"

He froze again. Bryan stopped laughing.

"Yup. You don't know how to read. It's not to be ashamed about. Here, I'll help you." Czar looked through the missions and searched for some easy ones for him. At that time, a quadruped canine appeared. He had a Police Badge attached to his bag, just as Czar did, but wasn't near as polite.

"Hey, Czar! What in Arceus' name do you think you are doing? I told you many times you are forbidden to accept missions! Go back to the south gate!" It was a Houndoom who seemed to be his superior.

"Sir, I'm not taking missions for…" He was interrupted

"I don't care for what you think! You are under my command. I order, you obey. Now go!"

Czar clenched his fists, gave a small look to Elliot and Bryan and left that place.

"Sorry you had to see that, dear explorers. That officer is still in training and doesn't know his limits. I see you have interest in the missions, right? I'm sure I can find a perfect police officer that can help you with all your needs… for a small fee of course."

Bryan touched Elliot's tail while moving. That was the signal they had planned. Elliot made the best 'emotionless' face he could.

"Oh… I'm sorry. We got robbed by those bandits from yesterday. No money at all. I'm trying to make some here."

That clearly upset the officer.

"Sorry, explorers. This office doesn't hand missions to new explorers. They're too difficult for newbies. We can only let you try them if we can guarantee your security, thus the fee we charge.

"And how much is that fee?"

"For only 500 Poké, you can have our best officers at your service… myself included."

Bryan and Elliot thought at the same time. ' _What a scam!_ '

"Well… like I said, I don't have that much. But still, I would like an officer to accompany me.

"We have some other officers too. They're not our elite ones, but I can find someone to help you for just 100 Poké."

Bryan showed his wallet. It was as empty. He had planned this since this morning and stored all his money in the bank.

"You can't be serious… you want an officer for free?"

"Why not? You get paid for a job well done. Why ask for a fee?"

"We have our policy. If you won't pay, I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Really? That guy you just sent to the south gate… Does he have a fee?"

"He can't go on missions. As I said, he is in training."

"Well, that's just perfect! What's better for training than a real mission?"

The officer was being cornered.

"I… I'll…"

"I'll do it for free!" Czar suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a huge smile on his face. The Houndoom looked to him with an angry face.

"You! What part of the 'I order, you obey' did you not understand?"

"The part where you are so fixed on earning your 'fees' you didn't even look to his exploration badge!"

"And why would I look to...to his… exploration… b-badge…" He saw it. The black badge. "Is that… M-Master Rank?!" His scream echoed in the police HQ and everybody looked to them.

"You didn't notice before?" Czar said, putting on an innocent expression.

The houndoom was at a loss of words.

"If an explorer like him asks for my help, I'll gladly help." The Scizor completed while he got on the Empoleon's side.

"B-But you can't…"

"Don't worry. He will be fine. As for the missions…" He began to take one, two, three… almost all of the missions from the bulletin board.

"That's too many! As a general rule, you can only accept eight at a time!"

"Don't worry about it. These aren't just for me."

The officer didn't understand it until he looked down to the Riolu. Elliot showed his black badge too. Czar made all the arrangements for him to have the same badge as Bryan, much for the Houndoom's dismay.

"What do you say, buddy? Eight for me and eight for you?"

"Sure…"

The officers around there couldn't believe in what was happening. Sixteen out of the twenty missions were taken by two Master Rank Explorers and wouldn't pay any fee.

"This is outrageous! I forbid you from accepting these missions!" The Houndoom snapped at all three of them. "These badges could be fake! No Master Rank Explorers ever came to this city."

Czar predicted that and asked Bryan for his badge. After that, he got really close to his boss.

"Then check it yourself, ' _boss'_." He said with a smile.

The Houndoom examined it for about a minute. It was legit. He had no power over that Empoleon or that Riolu. Master Rank Explorers had access to anything they wanted.

"Let's go, buddy. This Scizor will help us."

Elliot wanted to laugh hard, but managed to control himself. After taking all those missions, they returned to Czar's home. There, Elliot burst out laughing together with the others.

"I can't believe we just did that! It was so good to see that officer in a loss for words!" Elliot couldn't control himself. To keep that emotionless face was the hardest part of the entire plan.

"Yeah… I haven't laughed like this since when I got drunk with some other friends… but anyway, now that we've accepted them, we have to finish everything. Are you all up for the task?" Bryan said while putting every mission on the table. Czar and Elliot quickly got on his sides. "Let's see… There are a lot of missions that don't require you to go to mystery dungeons at all. These ones for example… you can do them here in Rook City. Most of them are lost items, like the lost toy you got earlier… which reminds me, you really don't know how to read, Elliot?"

"No… never had the chance to learn." He said a little ashamed while receiving a pat on his head.

"Don't worry too much about it. We'll teach you once everything is done." The Empoleon said with a huge smile on his beak. "Czar, do we have a time limit to complete these missions?"

"Yes. The ones here in the city you have a 2-day limit. The ones which require you to enter mystery dungeons can be done in a 7-day limit. If the missions are not done in this time, they'll print the mission again and put them on the bulletin board for others to get them."

"I see...well, some of these I can do with no problem, but some others it's good to have a team. For today we can focus on Elliot's part. Let's see…"

* * *

At night…

Bryan was looking once more to his bag, seeing if he had everything he needed. It's been a long time since he did a mission like this, and preparation was crucial. Just when he put the last of his items inside the bag again, Elliot entered the house, covered in leaves and extremely dirty.

"What happened, 'Junior Explorer'? Had a rough day?"

Elliot spit out more leaves.

"I had to search all the trees at the park for a small ball and a ribbon. And to top it off, I had to dig some holes there to find the lost toy one Herdier buried by accident and couldn't remember where it was, and I had to go through lots, and I mean LOTS, of pebbles near the river to find one that fitted the description on the mission… I'm exhausted." Elliot sat on a chair and slammed his face against the table.

"Yup… a perfect day for an explorer haha" Bryan laughed. "Don't worry, little Elliot. In no time you'll be entering mystery dungeons to do some real missions. Consider these you did as warm-ups."

Elliot grunted.

"Well… It's my time now. I'll be back tomorrow. Since the teleportation system is not working, I'll have to go on foot to the mystery dungeons. Behave yourself while Czar is not here… though he should be here any minute."

Just as he finished saying that, the Scizor appeared in the doorway.

"I'm back…" he seemed really tired, just like Elliot.

"Another one with a rough day?"

"Don't even mention rough day… my superiors are not happy with what happened. The only thing they care about is their damn money… Anyway, since you got the missions, I'm forbidden from entering in the Police HQ until you guys finish everything… not that I go there much anyway. At least I'll miss the afternoon tea."

"You seem kinda happy to miss it. Any particular reason?" Elliot asked.

"Well… I was the one scheduled to prepare it this week. I won't have to make the tea for them now." he smiled.

Elliot yawned. He was almost sleeping on the table.

"Go take a bath and rest, Elliot. Tomorrow you still have to do four more missions. I'm off to my first two now. See ya." Bryan said and left the house.

"You heard him. You know where the bathroom is. I'll prepare something for us to eat."

"Okay…" Elliot stood up, still tired, and went to clean his body. While taking his bath, he began to have thoughts about his aura.

" _I'm a pokemon that can feel aura... that can use aura... Zeph told me that one day I'll be able to control it... To feel other pokemon's auras. I should train for it… but how?"_

As the water fell on his head, he sat on the floor and concentrated. He could feel it, but not totally. He closed his eyes. It was like seeing a world with only black colors and white lines. His head began to ache as he was not used to using it and was not in his best condition.

" _It's possible… I'll train it. I'll get stronger!"_

" _I'm pretty sure of that!"_ a voice appeared in his mind and Elliot jumped and yelled terrified.

At the same instant, he heard Czar's voice.

"Elliot? Are you okay?"

"Yeah! I just slipped!" he replied and began to think again.

" _That was not Czar's voice… so whose voice was that?"_

" _Are you talking about me? I'm just an Aura user like you"_

" _Aura user… are you a Riolu like me? Or a Lucario?"_

" _Why don't you try to find me? That could be your training_. _Strengthen your aura and come to me."_

" _But why are you doing this? Like… we never met. You don't even know who I am."_

" _Oh, that's true. I don't know who you are, but I know you are a good pokemon. I saw you at the park today. You helped a lot of pokemon that the Police Officers and others explorers refused to help because the missions didn't have a good reward… and no, I wasn't the Skarmory near the river."_

" _But how did you know I was…"_

" _Aura… with time you'll learn that Aura can do more than you think it can. I have to go now. I'm waiting for you to find me. Until then."_ and with that, the voice went away

Elliot was surprised with all that. There was another Aura user in Rook City and was near him.


End file.
